Criminology - Roots in Visalia?

Episode Date: March 24, 2018

The East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer has been terrorizing the citizens of Sacramento county. We talk about additional attacks to start this episode. There were a number of sightings of strange people in different neighborhoods, some posing as meter readers, some posing as census takers. Neighbors and victims continue to receive haunting phone calls. We talk to a man who, in 1977, saw the East Area Rapist in his yard and actually came close to catching him. He takes us back to those events that occurred 40+ years ago. And then we finish talking about the Visalia Ransacker. This criminal, who operated in the mid-1970s, terrorized the town of Visalia. And then all of a sudden he vanished. Or, as some have theorized, did he move 200 miles to Sacramento County and begin operating there as EAR?  If you want to help support the show you can do so at patreon.com/criminology  An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. I want to welcome everyone to episode five, season two of criminology. We're almost to the halfway point of this season, but we have so much more in store for you. But Morf, before we get started, we have to give out some shoutouts. We have some new Patreon supporters whose support is amazing. We really appreciate it. So we had Christy Anderle, Kenneth Gentry, and Ricky Temple.

So again, appreciate that support. It really helps us keep doing what we're doing. And we're very happy to announce that we'll have our first Patreon-only episode coming out this April. So if you want to help support the show, all you have to do is go to patreon.com slash criminology. CrimeCon is getting closer and closer, and we're happy to hear from a lot of our listeners that they'll be at CrimeCon, and they're going to stop by and see us on Podcast Row. And if you're thinking about going to CrimeCon, you can use our promo code,

Criminology, to save 10% on your standard badge pricing when you check out at the CrimeCon website. And last but not least, Morf, we continue to be amazed by, how many people have preordered our book, Criminology, True Crime Podcasts presents the case of the Zodiac Killer. You know, this is a book that's based on season one of the podcast, and it's available through Amazon or by going through our partner in this project, Wild Blue Press.

And I have to say, Wild Blue Press has some amazing true crime books. To get more details, go to wildbluepress.com slash zodiac pre-orders. And on top of that, Wild Blue Press is offering our listeners a free audio book download. All you have to do for that is go to wildbluepress.com slash audio dash books. But that's enough of the business. We have to jump into this case as we move along through the rest of this season two. and the pace is going to pick up.

We're going to have more interviews, longer episodes, mainly because there's just so much to this case, we're going to have to jam pack these episodes. We don't want to leave anything out. You know, one of the things that we've heard from listeners and fans is that they really appreciate the amount of detail that goes into these episodes, and we want to make sure we keep that going. Now, one thing I have to say is that in many of these attacks, what we talk about sounds very similar. And it may sound repetitive at times.

And we understand that. But the reason for that is because the East Area Rapists, M.O. And the script that he was using was so similar in almost every attack that, you know, some of these details. almost become wrote. But again, we don't want to skip the details. So we want to tell you every single thing that we can

about each attack because each one of these victims is extremely important and their story deserves to be heard. Before we get started, we need to send a very special thank you to Kat Winners and Keith Kamos who co-authored the book

Case Files of the East Area Rapist Golden State Killer. Their book is based on many of the same exact police reports and files that we're using to bring you the presentation of this case. They wrote and researched some of the material about the Vaisalia Ransacker case that we will be covering in this episode. And we can't recommend their book enough. You can find it on Amazon. Be sure to check it out. So just to review where we left off in episode four, the East Area Rapists had committed his 18th confirmed attack on May 3rd, 1977 in the 6th.5.

city of Sacramento. We picked this episode up one day later on the night of May 4th. We're back in the city of Orangevale on the 9,500 block of Winter Brookway. A 34-year-old man who worked for a brokerage firm had invited his 25-year-old female co-worker to come by his new home for a tour and to discuss some business. And this guy had literally just moved in. He didn't. He didn't didn't have any shades or curtains on the windows yet. The female co-worker arrived at his house around 10.30 p.m. and brought along with her her two dogs. They thought it would be good for the dogs to run around in the backyard, so they opened the back door and let the dogs out. Both dogs immediately started barking at a big oak tree in the backyard. And on the other side of the fence, a neighbor's

was also barking at something in that same area. The pair didn't see anyone or anything going on in the backyard, and they discounted the dogs barking and headed inside to talk. Ultimately, they would begin to become intimate with each other. The pair spent time together until just after midnight. At about 12.15 a.m., on the very early hours of May 5th, the woman packed up her belongings in the dogs and headed outside to leave her home. Her coworker walked her to the front door. As she opened the door, her dogs went out

ahead of her and started barking immediately. They were on high alert, and the hair on their backs was standing. Suddenly, a hooded man jumped from the darkness from the garage area of the home. He was holding a gun and told the pair to go back inside immediately, or he would blow their brains all over the house. Once they got back in, they were ordered down onto their stomachs. The masked man threw black shoe strings to the female victim and instructed her to tie up her male companion. The dogs were barking and the intruder threatened the woman telling her that she had better shut the dogs up or he would kill both the couple and the dogs. Once she had the male victim tied up, the man told her to take the dogs into one of the bedrooms and locked them up. After she locked up

the dogs. She returned to the living room and the man ordered her to the floor next to the male victim. He tied her wrist very tightly but did not tie her ankles. After the woman was once again secured, the attacker turned off the lights in the home. He then walked into the kitchen and came back with some dishes and placed them on the helpless pair's backs. The male victim started to plead with the intruder to take what he wanted and the masked man told him that he would take their money and go and then held a knife to the bound man's neck and ordered him to shut up, hissing through clenched teeth. Then the attacker ordered the female victim to her feet

and at gunpoint directed her towards one of the bedrooms. And as we know, this is typical East Area rapist behavior. Lie to the victims, get them to cooperate, tell them that he just wants their money, and then separate them. Once he had the 25-year-old woman in the bed, room, he held the knife to her throat while he unbuttoned her shirt. He cut her bra open using the knife and then blindfolded her with the towel. And sticking with his script,

the next thing that the woman heard was this man lubricating himself and masturbating close to her. And then finally sexually assaulting her. After the initial rape, the masked man left the room and wandered through the home, going through drawers, closets, and the like. This home had just been moved into. There wasn't much there to rummage through. The man also visited the kitchen and ate some food that was in the refrigerator. He returned to the female victim and then raped her again. This happened multiple times and in between the sexual attacks, the man would wander through the house. During one of the attacks, the rapist told the female victim, you better swear to God that you didn't see a van down the street. And you have to

wonder why he would make this statement. Did he really have a van down the street? Because if so, why would he volunteer that info? Or as some investigators think, was he deliberately providing the victims with bogus info to pass along to police? Not long after mentioning the van down the street, the house fell silent. The female victim waited for a while and then was able to get to her feet and make her way out to the living room where the male victim was still bound. There was no sign of the attacker

and she was able to untie her male companion. Once the couple were free, they tried to use their kitchen phone to call police, but found that the court had been cut. They then decided to run to the neighbor's house for help. Police arrived on the scene at around 3 a.m. They called in an ambulance to take the pair to Sacramento Medical Center. Before they were taken away, they were able to give the police some good information about their attacker. They described them as being white, around 5 foot 10 to 6 foot tall, and about 160 pounds. The female victim also described as penis as being small and thin, no more than 5 inches. They described the assailant as having light-colored eyes that they could see through the beige

colored ski mask that the man was wearing. His voice was low as if he was soft-spoken and it had a high pitch to it. The gun he carried was a large caliber, silver, semi-automatic handgun. After the victims were taken to the hospital, the investigators focused their attention outside of the residents. They checked that area close to the big tree in the backyard where the dogs had been barking as if startled by something. They found scuff marks around the tree and tracks from a tennis shoe. Also found in the backyard was an empty beer can. something found at other East Area rapist crime scenes.

After processing the crime scene, the investigators made their way to some of the neighbor's homes to question them. And it was at that point that they discovered some troubling pre-attack incidents. Only about five hours before the attack, a full-size American-made car green or blue in color was seen parked in front of the victim's home. Inside, the driver, a white man who looked to be in his 30s, appeared to be reading a map, but he never exited the vehicle. Only a week before the attack, a man posing as a plumber visited a nearby home on two separate occasions.

The man was described as being white in his early 20s, 5 foot 11 with short curly brown hair and a pockmarked face. His car was an older, rusty, four-door Chevy. The man was never identified. On May 2nd, only three days before the attack, a neighbor comes. coming out of her garage saw a strange car parked across the street from her home. Something told her that the car did not belong there and she attempted to make her way over to get the car's plate, but as she did, the driver quickly drove off. The very next day, on May 3rd, another neighbor saw a metallic gray Plymouth parked in front of

her home. She called police to investigate, but by the time they arrived, the car was gone. So once again, we have an entire section of a street. with many residents experiencing people and cars that didn't belong there preceding an East Area Rapists attack. The East Area Rapists had struck twice within a two-day period, and it seemed as if his attacks were coming in rapid succession. The next East Area Rapists attack would happen on May 14, 1777, and it would occur on the 6,100 block of Merlindale Drive in Citrus Heights. This area of Merlendale Drive had been suffering serious East Dereo rapist-like activity, dating all the way back to

December of 1976. That's when a woman had found a plastic bag in her bushes containing gloves and a flashlight. In episode four, we discussed another resident that had found similar items stashed in their bushes around the time of an East Area rapist attack. All through the spring of 1977, odd people canvassed the neighborhood claiming to be doing work for organizations that didn't exist. Prowlers were witnessed. In one incident, somebody awoke to a flashlight shining through their window and another neighbor scared off someone trying to pry open their sliding glass door.

Now, this is a lot of activity going on around this street. And it's hard to imagine how police were not staking out this area with all of these strange things going on over this extended period of time? In February, 1977, one resident was so unnerved by hang-up phone calls she was getting that she decided to move. Once she moved to her new address, the calls picked up again. At her old house on Merlindale, a new couple had moved in, and they too started to experience trouble right away. It started with hang-up phone calls. And in mid-May, after living there for a few months, they had scared a prowler out of their backyard. In the early morning hours of May 14,

1977, this couple would become the next victims of the East Area rapist. And this married couple, husband is 30, the wife is 22, they were both in the restaurant industry. That night, or actually probably that morning, they went to bed around 3 a.m. Before she fell asleep, the woman heard something hit the outside of the house, and she immediately sat up in bed. She woke up her husband and told him what she heard. Now, he dismissed it as being a tree branch. And this would turn out to be a big mistake, because after a few uneasy minutes and not hearing anything else, the 22-year-old woman fell back asleep.

It was about 45 minutes later, just before 4 a.m., that the victims were awakened by a flashlight in their eyes and a man standing in their doorway. He was wearing a nylon stocking on his face and holding a gun. The intruder spoke out, you make a sound and I'll kill you. I have a 45 and I'll kill you if you move. He then told the startled couple he would be taking their money and some food and then he would be leaving in his van. And Morf, we've been through this time and time again. This screams of the East Area rapist because he generally stuck to the same script in almost every attack. He ordered the pair to turn over on their stomachs, threw the woman's shoelaces, and ordered her to tie up her husband. Once the woman had her husband

tied, the intruder tied the woman's hands behind her back. And when he tied her hands, he tied them very hard, violently. At this point, her husband pleaded with the man not to hurt her, but the assailant told him to shut up. The female victim then realized that her cat was in the bed and fearing it would be hurt, she told the attacker that the cat was in the bed, but he told her to shut up as well. The assailant then tied both of the victim's feet. He placed the gun against the man's head and asked him where his money was. The victim told the man that it was on his dresser. The masked man walked over to the dresser only to find a big bottle of pennies and smashed the bottle breaking it. The man then went to the closet. The couple's pet dog was

lying quietly on the floor and the man picked it up and carried it into another room. The intruder found a green file box in the closet and asked the couple if there was cash in it, but they told him no. They said that the box only contained insurance papers. The masked man told them that if they were lying, he would kill them. He pried open the file box and found the insurance papers just as the couple had told him and he threw them down. After coming up in empty with the file box, the attacker told the couple he needed to go outside and take a break. He walked out of their sliding glass door and into their backyard before returning just a few minutes later. Once the man walked back into the home, it was time for the next phase of the

familiar script. The intruder asked the woman where her purse was and she told him it was in the family room. The man left the room and came back with some dishes and stacked them on the male victim's back. He told the woman he could not find her purse and that she needed to come with him to find it. He cut the bindings on her feet and as he walked her out of the room, warned her husband that if the dishes fell, that he would slit his wife's throat. Once they got into the family room, the woman pointed out her purse to the man and he dumped it out taking her cash. She was extremely afraid and she pleaded with this man not to kill her. The man said he wouldn't as long as she did exactly. as he instructed. The attacker walked back into the bedroom and placed his gun to the husband's

head and warned him not to make any moves. He told the husband that he was going to get a beer and rest. The helpless husband listened as the man rummaged through the house. He eventually made his way back to the female victim in the family room. The man walked up to the terrified woman holding a bottle of vaseline lotion and a towel, both of which had come from the victim's bathroom. He ripped the towel and placed half of it over the television set that was turned on, slightly illuminating the room. The other half was placed over the woman's eyes as a blindfold. Once she was blindfolded, right on cue, the man placed his lubricated penis into her bound hands and told her to play with it. Then the man told the 22-year-old woman how beautiful she was.

was as he removed the bindings on her ankles. He then removed her pajamas and underwear. The man told her that he was going to take her with him in his van and asked her how she'd like to be in the river. She took this to mean that he was going to kill her and throw her in the river and she started sobbing. The attacker told her to shut up and then sexually assaulted her. After the attack, he told the victim,

that he was going to cut her phone cord. It was then that she heard a snip, just like the sound of a phone cord being cut. After the assault, the attacker grabbed at the rings on the woman's fingers, but she made a fist and he couldn't get them off. He put the gun to her head and she stopped fighting. The man then took the rings off of her hand

and walked away and out the back door. He had left just after 5 a.m., about 90 minutes after the attack started. At about the same time, a paper boy delivering newspaper saw a blue van possibly sanded down driving away from the area. The couple were able to quickly get free and when they checked the phone found that it had not been cut after all. They contacted police who arrived shortly after 5.30 a.m. The married couple recounted the attack for investigators.

They described this sound as being about 5'9 to 5 foot 10 with dark brown hair. It was about shoulder length and through the stocking mask they could see a few days worth of stubble on his face. Police discovered the entry point to be a window on the north side of the house. The attacker had climbed in after removing the screen. His escape route after fleeing through the back door led over the fence and towards a nearby apartment complex close to where the paper boy had seen a van drive away. The victims detailed the items that were stolen, which included a wedding band, an engagement ring, and a class ring. In addition, the assailant had taken photographs and the female victim's driver's license.

The couple admitted to police that they had some marijuana out in the open, but the attacker didn't take it. And they had one other piece of information for police. Not long before the couple had turned in for bed, they received a phone call that was a wrong number. The mail caller had asked for a Mrs. Jones. The toured pace for the East Area Rapists would continue. Only a couple days later, on the night of May 16th, 1977, just after 11 p.m., a resident on the 5,700 block of Haskell Avenue saw a man in his yard. We interviewed this resident that will refer to as Mr. Haskell, and he recounted for us just what happened that night over 40 years ago. May 16th, 1977, if I remember correctly, I was one.

watching television and glanced up and saw like a shadow go by through the kitchen window. And, of course, I jumped up because the kitchen window is next, you know, it's not out front. It's by the side yard. So I jumped up and looked and saw this man that looked like he had some sort of hat on or something. I think he had a ski mask on that was rolled up on top of his head. It wasn't a hat that had a rim on it. ran to try to catch this guy, but he was like an athlete. I've never seen anybody like this.

I'm 6'4 foot 4. That time I was probably 280, but this guy was, you know, I'm saying probably 5'10, somewhere in there, 5, I don't know. He had dark jacket on Levi's and he's wearing tennis shoes, but he hit the fence with one arm and brought both feet over the top, just like an athlete. It was unbelievable, almost like he was military, you know, trained or athletic trained or something like that. We asked Mr. Haskell just how close he had come to catching the prowler.

Right at the beginning, I was very close. You know, if I was, my arms were six foot long, I probably could have had him. He was skinny. I mean, you know, I'm pretty big, so I would have absolutely kicked his rear. because I didn't know, I had no idea what was going on. It didn't click in my mind that it could have been this guy. I know that everybody was nervous. You know, the whole city was kind of in her uproar because of all this,

and everybody was locking their doors and check in. But, yeah, he was pretty close. I almost had him. I did not get a really good look at his face. I just got the right side. I could tell he was white. I'm guessing between 5-7, 5-10 somewhere in there, and very athletic. I mean, again, this guy one-armed over the fence.

It's just like you see in the movies. It's unbelievable. And these are six-foot-tall fences. It was very easy for him. It was like he's practiced it, or he was very athletic. I talked to a friend of mine who was Marine, and he said, you know, we have to do that all the time. I mean, that's how we're trained. I thought, wow, I wonder if the guy's in, you know, a Marine or something.

The prowler seemed to have lost Mr. Haskell when a police officer named Marlon Weinberger showed up quickly in the area after responding to a prowler call, and he found Mr. Haskell still trying to locate the prowler near a smud electrical substation. The deputy looked up and saw something and he took off running. And I remember, I don't know if he had a walkie-tucky or what he had. had, but he kept yelling something and took off after what looked like to be the same guy. And when he came back, he came back like 30 minutes later, and he said, you know, somebody just tried to run me over. I was trying to flag a car down. Somebody tried to run me over.

Officer Weinberger witnessed a car pulling away from the curb on Locust Avenue, just southeast of Mr. Haskell's home. He tried to flag the car down in an effort to ask the driver if he could assist by shining the car's headlights into a nearby field to illuminate it. But without warning, the driver accelerated and attempted to run down the officer. It appeared that the vehicle officer Weinberger was almost run down by, was driven by the suspect fleeing the scene. An extensive police presence was immediately brought in an effort to keep the prowler who was possibly the East area rapist from getting out of the area. I gave the description to them and boy, I'm telling you, it was like a sheriff's

apartment from all over showed up. There was cars everywhere, helicopter, cars, all kinds of stuff. Despite the all-out effort to capture this man, all of the hard work proved fruitless and the man seemed to vanish into the darkness. Mr. Haskell described the aftermath of the incident for us. There was a empty house next to, or two from mine that I think the guy ran to or through, and we, the sheriff and I went over there, and it looks like somebody actually had been there. There was an empty house. It was brand new. Just was sold. And it looked like somebody set up some sort of little camp or something there, maybe. I don't know. It was kind of, there was no electricity. but there was a, I don't even know you could call it an orange crate, some sort of box or something.

But they found some evidence there, and I don't remember what it was. We got an alarm system installed the next day. Within a day of Mr. Haskell having the alarm installed, his home was broken into. Looks like somebody came in through my bathroom window later on. They actually found some, I don't know, I can't remember what they found. something to do with paint, small paint particles or something. In the laundry room, there's a attic access, and it looks like somebody had stood on the washer and dryer to get up in the attic. And I think that's exactly where they found those paint particles, actually.

It wasn't in the bathroom. I think they found them there. And the alarm system is not as sophisticated as the ones we have today. It was just the front door, the garage door, and the back sliding door. And then it had pressure pads. A few days later, I got a religious pamphlet on my door. And each page had something written in it, but it wasn't handwriting. It was like a stamp or something. Like somebody took an edge of something and put ink on it and then wrote.

So, you know, it wasn't real handwriting. And it said, I think you think you caught me next time you die or something like that. I think it was a word per page. And, of course, then the sheriff's department said, you know, I called them and they came over and got it and looked at it. And they said, wow. So one lieutenant showed up at the house. later on and said I'd like to put a couple deputies in your house because if this guy comes back we'll be able to get them and I said sure so before I went home my work

was only a few miles away so before I went home they would show up I would put them in the back of my truck and open up the garage door roll down the garage door and let those two deputies out for I think it was two or three nights in a row and they finally Nothing ever happened. We used to get phone calls, several phone calls a week with nobody in the other line, just deadline. It sounds like somebody stuck the mute button on. It was before, but we didn't really pay any attention to it, so I'm going to say maybe a month or so.

And after it went on for, a matter of fact, my girl wouldn't even answer the phone. So I would answer it, and I would answer it with profanity if nobody said anything. I'd tell them what I thought about them and said, come get me, you piece of crap, you know, yada, yada, yada. Because the sheriff department said, hey, have you got any calls? And, of course, I put two and two together, and I'm trying to entice the guy to come see me. It was probably a few months, and it wasn't a regular thing. It was very irregular. It wasn't like once a week.

Before it was probably once a week, but after it started a few times, and then it would not go for a month or so, and then a few times more. And then, you know, so I would say probably a few months afterwards. But not on a regular basis. It was very irregular. Mr. Haskell had been lucky. The prowler, who was likely the East Area rapist, despite getting into his house and leaving a threatening note,

never wound up attacking him. But despite escaping the police dragnet that night, this predator was not done. And then we heard that night that the, the Easterer rapists had two hours later, I think, or three hours later from when I saw him and when we all the police saw him, that he actually was at somebody's house. While police were occupied that night trying to hunt Mr. Haskell's prowler down, another Carmichael resident on Sandbar Circle five miles away was feeling pretty secure.

He was confident and not worried about the East Area rapist coming into his house. After all, he had been the man that stood up at the town hall meeting months earlier. At one of the public meetings, we were talking about, you know, the rape is coming in, and there was a, you know, a man and a woman in the house, or there's two women, and there's been more than one person, and he was able to cure them all and, you know, get them tied up and commit the rape and be in the house for such a long time. And the gentleman in the audience stood up, and he said, there is no way.

There is no way that that could happen that some man. in the house would not be able to overpower him or do anything. And then he was like calling us liars. Perhaps he would have been more nervous had he known that some of his neighbors had been getting phone calls since early 1977 and many others had seen prowlers. Other neighbors reported packs of people claiming to be census workers walking through the neighborhood. But the census was not supposed to be conducted until 1980.

three years later. In the months of April and May, this man and his wife began to get hang up phone calls. But at this point in time, these hang up phone calls didn't alarm them. And the reason for that is because police had still not disclosed to the public that many of the victims of the East Area rapist had received hang up phone calls prior to being attacked. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman for... fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency?

We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. In early May, somebody had shot BB gun holes through this man. window. And on another occasion, his garage door appeared to be pride. In Midbay, the man's wife noticed a stranger walked through her yard and towards a neighbor's home, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

So there was a lot of activity happening on Sandbar Circle, and much of it right around this man's house, the same man that had voiced his disbelief publicly of what the Easterer rapist was capable of doing. And it turned out, this man and his wife would be the next victims of the Easter rapist. The male victim, a 31-year-old manufacturing employee and his 26-year-old wife, a college student, were home on May 16th. They were joined by their children and the male victim's father who had been visiting from his home in Italy. The victim's father and the couple's children went to sleep around 10 p.m. And the male and female victims went to bed around 11. Early in the morning hours of May 17, at around 1.30 a.m. The female victim awoke to a bright flashlight shining in her eyes.

She could see the outline of the man holding it. The man hissed through clenched teeth in what sounded like a stuttering whisper. Look at me. Do you hear me? She did hear him and she was scared. As if it was a bad dream, she pulled the covers over her head. The whispering voice warned her that he had a 45 magnum and ordered her to take the cover off of her head. The man started to bang on their door to get their attention, and the male victim woke up, and as he tried to get up, the intruder shined a light in his eyes and told him to stay in the bed. He then ordered the husband and wife to turn over onto their stomachs. He told a pair that he was going to take their money and jewels. He then threw shoelaces to the woman, ordered her to tie her husband's hands tightly behind his

back. Then the intruder tied to female victim's hands behind her back. Once the husband was secured, the intruder tied his hands even tighter and then tied his feet. He held the gun to the male victim's head and the bound husband started to say something. But the intruder, who they could clearly see was wearing a ski mask, told him to shut up and warn him if he said another word, he would kill everybody in the house. It was then after the attacker had both the husband and a wife tied securely that he opened their sliding glass door and stepped outside. The assailant sounded as if he were throwing items into a metal box outside. And after a couple of minutes, he returned to the bound couple and placed something on the male victim's back. He then started to open their drawers and looked in their closet.

He stopped searching and told the couple he was going to get something to eat and that if he heard any noise while he was gone, he would kill everyone in the house. The intruder was gone quite a while. It seemed as if he was gone perhaps 30 minutes. The victims thought that he might be gone before he once again started making noise, letting them know that he was still there. In sticking with his script, it came to the point where the attacker needed to remove the female victim from the same room as the male. He asked her where her purse was, and she told him it was on top of the refrigerator.

The man ordered the bound woman up and told her she needed to go with him to get her purse. At gunpoint, the woman walked with the intruder into the kitchen. The masked man then led her into the living room and ordered her onto her stomach. He tied her feet. She could see that a blanket had been placed over the lamp to make a softly lit area. The intruder went into the kitchen and got some dishes, walked back to the husband who was still tied up in his bed. He placed the dishes on his back before once again threatening to kill everyone in the house if the man made a noise. He walked back into the living room towards the female victim.

The attacker walked past the victim and into the kitchen where he ate food. After eating, he then went back out to the female victim. He told the woman that he needed more money and she told him that they had a bunch of coins. She let the man know where he could find them and he left the room. He returned a few minutes later and stood very close to her. She felt the man's lubricated penis in her bound hands. he instructed the woman to rub him and addressed her by a shortened version of her first name. The man untied the woman's ankles and then he raped her, not once but multiple times.

And he made this woman do some very disgusting things. In between the assaults, he would take walks back and forth to check on her husband. And he seemed to be much angrier than he did in most. of the other attacks. He took a break at one point and told the woman he wanted to grab something to eat and a couple of beers and that he was going to go outside and enjoy them. At one point, the attacker said to the woman that he had never killed before, but added that he was going to start.

He told her, I want you to tell those fuckers, those pigs, I'm going home to my apartment. I have bunches of televisions. I'm going to listen on the radio and watch television. and if I hear about this, I'm going to go out tomorrow and kill two people. People are going to die. The woman agreed that she would tell the police to keep the man at bay. After a bit of time and silence, the husband had had enough and figured the intruder was gone. He started yelling out as loud as he could in Italian to his father, who was awakened by his screams.

And it's amazing, Morph, that this man's father and the couple of the couple of people, children slept through the entire attack. The father came in to find the couple tied up and removed their bindings. They then contacted police who raced to the scene. Police immediately took a description of the attacker who was described by the victims as being white and about five foot eight to five foot nine. His voice sounded young in his 20s perhaps. Of course, the female victim also described him having a small penis. Both victims described the rapist as talking through clenched teeth. the mask he wore was described as being beige. They were able to determine that the rapist had made off with an undisclosed amount of cash,

coins, and one of the victim's wedding bans. But it wasn't what he took that intrigued the investigators. It was what he appeared to have left behind. When looking through the female victim's jewelry box to see what was missing, they discovered St. Christopher's medal that the victim stated did not belong to them. Police discovered that the attacker had gotten in the home through the sloth. lighting glass door, which had the screws removed. Investigators also found that a phone line had been cut. The investigation turned to the outside of the home, and in the backyard, they found some empty

beer bottles and some cracker wrappers. Investigators wanted to question neighbors to see if they had heard or seen anything unusual, and they quickly learned that some of the neighbors did have valuable information. One neighbor had heard small foreign car drive through the circle and turn around at about 1115 p.m. a couple hours before the attack started. Other types of vehicles that seemed out of place to residents were also reported driving through the circle on the day of the attack before turning around and exiting. These included a newer station wagon and a brand new brown El Camino that was seen behind the victim's home earlier on the day of the attack. One of the neighbors got a partial plate number for the vehicle, 366-T.

Police would later place the witness who saw the El Camino under hypnosis in an effort to learn more about the car or its driver. And under hypnosis, this witness was able to provide some detailed information. They described the driver as being a white male in his 20s with brown collar-length hair. They also said that he had deep set eyes. One specific detail provided by this witness was a highly detailed description of a decal that the El Camino had on it. The decal appeared to show a parachute attached to a missile or rocket and included letters that were possibly AFC. The decal appeared to be somehow related to the military, but despite this detailed info about the decal,

the car, the driver, and the license plate, none of those things have ever been identified. One thing that came to light which investigators had seen before in the Eastereripus case was a home for sale very close to the victim. In this instance, the home across the street had been for sale for a month. And numerous realtors and clients had been in and out of the home during the previous weeks. In the days following the attack, one neighbor found a towel hidden in her bushes that appeared to be stained with sea. demon. Police staked out this home in case the East Area rapist came back to attack this woman, but he didn't. Finally, on December 9th, 1977, eight months after the attack, the victim's phone rang.

When the female victim answered, a hoarse voice whispered, Merry Christmas, it's me again. The woman immediately recognized that this was the voice of her rapist. The attack on this couple was interesting in many ways. First, these victims had been at a town hall meeting months earlier in which the male victim openly doubted that the East Area rapists could attack in the way they were describing. The likelihood here was that the East Area rapists had also been at this meeting and followed this couple home and targeted them months later. Also of interest in the attack, on this couple was the anger that the East Area Rapists seem to have about the police, something he hadn't had before, calling them pigs and threatening violence.

It's very possible that he was angry after the police and Mr. Haskell had pursued him earlier the night of this attack, forcing him to change plans. Just when the East Area Rapist investigators seemed to have all they could handle, another wild card was added to the deck, which was already stacked against them. Two Viceria police detectives are in Sacramento today. probing the possibility that a man sought as a suspect in the raping of 23 women could be the Visalia Ransacker and possibly the killer of Claude Snelling. A number of similarities in physical description and actions of the sacramental rapist and the Vysalia Ransacker have swung the Vysalia investigation, the most intensive in the city's history to the state's capital.

Although it has never been proved, investigators have been working on the premise that the ransacker is the same person who killed the College of Sequoia Journalism Instructor, September 11th, 1975. Lieutenant Roy Springmeyer said today, quote, because of the degree of the similarity in the physical descriptions and the methods used, we just can't afford to overlook the possibility that the same person could be responsible for the rapes and the Vysalia crimes, unquote. Detectives Bill McGowan and Dwayne Shipley left Vysalia early today to meet in Sacramento with investigators probing the rapes in which the attacker now is threatened to kill two persons.

The increasingly violent behavior of the Sacramento attacker, matches the psychological profile compiled during investigation of the Visalia Ransacker case and the murder of Snelling, investigators said. In the Sacramento case, psychologists believe the rapist is trying to prove himself sexually because he, quote, has difficulty establishing a normal sexual relationship, unquote. When psychologists compiled a profile of the man responsible for the Visalia crimes, they said he probably would become more violent and dangerous. Officers are convinced that the man who shot Snelling is the man who shot a detective McGegett. McGowan during a December 10th stakeout of a neighborhood in which a prowler believed to be the ransacker had been working. McGowan was not hurt, but a bullet pierced the veteran officer's flashlight.

It was between the time of the Snelling murder and the first shot fired at the officer that the string of Sacramento rapes began, generally October 1975. Vysalia investigators say the first Sacramento rapes during late 1975 could have been committed by a man sought in the Vysalia cases. In Sacramento, the frequency of the rapes has been increasing, along with a degree violence. In recent weeks, the rapist has become increasingly bold, and on six occasions, the sexual attacks were committed after the victim's husbands were tied up by the attacker. In most of the earlier attacks, however, the victim was alone in the home. The rapist typically wears a mask,

ties up people, and ransacks the house. The Sacramento attacks have occurred in middle income and upper income residential areas, and a local group calling itself East Area Rapist Surveillance Patrol, is offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the rapist. in Visalia, $4,000 is being offered for the arrest and conviction of Snelling's killer. Vysalia Police Sergeant John Vaughn, who has been heading the Snelling murder investigation, said today, he has copies of many of the Sacramento rape investigation reports and the profiles of the crime patterns. They are being closely studied and compared to the information gathered by Vysalia officers during the 20-month investigation of the Vysalia slaying and the nearly four-year probe of the ransacking burglaries,

Vaughn said. There are also similarities in the composite pictures of the Snelling, Sacker suspect and the Sacramento rapist. The Vysalia subject is described as between 25 and 30 years of age, 5 foot 10 inches in height, and 180 to 200 pounds in weight. He was described as having short, straight, blonde hair, a pale, smooth, round face, and stubby feet and hands. The subject is believed to be left-handed and often wore a dark ski mask. The subject in the Sacramento cases is described as between 19 and 30 years of age, with blue or hazel eyes, 5'8 to 10 inches in height, with a good build and dirty blonde or medium brown hair.

The Sacramento rapist also wears a ski mask. In Sacramento during a news conference, Fred Reese's chief deputy sheriff said, quote, this individual is probably in a homosexual panic caused by his inadequate endowment. Reese said the rapist who typically carries a gun and a knife but is never disfigured or wounded any victim, probably had a domineering mother and an absent father or a weak father. Reese based his comments off reports of psychologists and psychiatrists who have studied all-known facts about the rapist. What you just heard was from an article printed in the May 18th, 177 Vysalia Times Delta newspaper. It detailed how investigators 200 miles away in Vysalia,

California felt that Sacramento's East Area rapists could possibly be a serial offender in Vysalia known as the Vysalia Ransacker. The town of Vysalia was an aggregate. cultural community situated off Route 99 between Fresno and Bakersfield. Back in the mid-70s, the southern half of the city was under siege by a burglar and killer known locally as the Visalia Ransacker. The Vysalia Ransacker, or VR, for short, began his home intrusions in April of 1974. There were several incidents in the years leading up to this that he may have been responsible for. Usually operating on weekends, the ransacker would enter several unoccupied homes in one night, stealing very little, but usually engaging in activities that had a sexual undertone.

Even though the VR restricted himself to a small geographic area, he remained elusive and the police were unable to predict when and where he would strike next. His burglaries continued at a steady pace, escalating to a fateful night when he attempted a kidnapping and committed a murder. A few months later, after an attempted homicide, the Vysalia Ransacker seemingly stopped offending and vanished. But there is some evidence that indicates he didn't stop at all. It's possible that he might have simply moved to Sacramento and become the same. the East Area Rapist. Keith Kamos, co-author of case files of the East Area Rapist Golden State Killer, commented on some of the things he and his co-author Kat Winters discovered

while researching the Vesalia Ransacker case. The Vesalya Ransacker was a very unique type of offender. He committed well over 100 burglaries, most of them over about a two-year time period, and despite operating in a fairly small area, he was never caught or identified. The Ransacker generally stuck to the area south of, Noble Avenue, east of Demoree Street, west of South Court Street, and north of West Whitendale Avenue. So this is a pretty specific area, Morve. Yeah, this was a very specific zone that this offender operated in, much like the East Area Rapists would do later on in Sacramento County.

The attempted kidnapping and murder happened on Whitney, and the attempted homicide happened on West Coahua. activity all happened in that small area, which was pretty brazen and pretty incredible that he was never caught, especially since that occasionally there were police stakeouts and special patrols happening during the time and the actual moments that he was offending. It wasn't bad police work. It was simply a careful, elusive offender committing random crimes that were almost impossible to predict. Becoming such a prolific and daring burger was only one of the things that set the Vysalia Ransacker apart from other criminals. His crimes were unique.

Most burglars focus on breaking into a residence, stealing whatever they can, and getting out as quickly as possible. Not the Vaisalya Ransacker. The typical Ransacker crime saw him breaking into a home while residents were away, often away for an extended period of time like a vacation. He looked for unlocked doors or windows first, and if he didn't find any, he pried his way inside. Once inside the residence, he opened more windows, removing at least one of the screens and usually leaving it out. out on the bed. This was done apparently so he had an easy escape route if someone came home unexpectedly. Sometimes he placed some items against the front or back door that would crash down if it were opened, which could alert him if someone else entered the house. He then began rummaging through almost

every room in the house, especially the bedrooms. At almost every scene, he took women's bras, panties, lingerie, nightgowns, or whatever they had, and he took them out of the drawers and threw them onto the floor, or he folded them up on the headboards or he laid them out on the bed. And this was a fairly unique activity that he did. It was fairly unique to him, as was the opening of escape routes and placing items against doors. So these things helped differentiate a ransacker burglary from a, quote, normal, unquote, burglary. He appeared to be sexually motivated and not motivated by personal gain. The VR didn't take much from his crimes.

usually only taking a piggy bank, coins, a coin collection, loose cash, things like that, but very little else. That was another calling card of the VR. Piggy banks or change jars or whatever the victim used to store spare change. Sometimes he stole the whole coin bank or sometimes he just broke it or opened them and took the money. He did this at most of the scenes and he rarely passed up blue chip training stamps also. Blue Chip stamps were stamps issued to customers when they checked out at participating grocery stores. It was essentially a loyalty program, and the more items you bought, the more stamps you would receive. The stamps could be collected, usually by licking them and placing them into books, and then traded in at redemption centers for items like housewares, toys, merchandise, and even furniture. The ransacker stole these at several crime scenes.

Because the VR hit while victims weren't home, he was usually looking at. long gone by the time the police were called. This made him very difficult to track or catch. Sadly, not every ransacker event involved him stealing from homes while the residents were away. In the early morning hours of September 11, 1975, the ransacker went from petty burglar to a tempted kidnapper and murderer. The night of September 10th was fairly normal for the daughter of Claude Snelling.

16-year-old student at Mount Whitney High School. She was spending time at home with her family and her boyfriend. The windows were open that evening because the air conditioner had been acting up. Her boyfriend left around 10 p.m. And she went to bed shortly thereafter. In the very early morning hours of September 11th, the Vysalia Ransacker approached their home and entered their backyard. He removed the screen from a large window at the rear of their house

and deposited it across the street on top of a neighbor's camper. Then he went back to the Snelling residence. The window that he'd removed the screen from may have already been opened or left unlocked. It was situated right next to the back door, and he was able to reach in and unlock the back door. Leaving it open a foot or two, he entered the Snelling home. The first thing he seemed to do was locate Mrs. Snelling's purse. He brought it outside and set it down on the other side of the house. as he did this he took a few dollars from the purse then he went back inside the interior of the house was lit by a back porch light and a bathroom light that had been left on he was able to make his way silently through the house and into the teenage daughter's room

the girl was asleep but the next thing she knew she was being suffocated by a heavy weight on top of her one of her hands was pinned down and with the other she pulled at whatever was suffocating her. She felt bare hands covering her nose and mouth and saw angry eyes just a few inches from her face. She heard a quiet growl coming from the darkness. You're coming with me. Don't scream or I'll stab you. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the bed. He produced a gun from his back left pocket, then pointed at her and snarled, don't move or I'll shoot you. The girl began to cry and then asked the man, what are you doing? Where are you taking me? He began to pushing her through the house and towards the back door, which the daughter could see had been left open by the intruder. She began to struggle against him, but his grip was very strong. He took a few

steps in front and took the lead, dragging her toward the door. She was doing everything she could do not to let this man take her outside of the house, and because of this, she was making quite a bit of noise. She cried as he led her out of the door. down the steps and through the gate, which had also been left open. They stopped briefly at the carport, and it was at that point they both heard a noise from inside the house. And it was her father, Claude, yelling, hey, what are you doing? Where are you taking my daughter?

He was shouting this as he was moving through the house and out the back door. The kidnapper turned around and looked at him. As Claude Snelling began walking down the steps, the kidnapper let go of his daughter who fell to the ground. He then faced Claude Snelling and without hesitation opened fire. The first bullet struck Mr. Snelling in the arm and he spun around. The second bullet went through his torso and into a window of the Snelling house. Mortally wounded, Claude Snelling went back into the house and ran towards the front door, most likely hoping that he could still head off the kidnapper.

At that point, the shooter pointed his gun to run. directly at the teenage daughter. He apparently reconsidered shooting her because he lowered the weapon. And then he kicked her in the face two or three times. He turned and jogged down the driveway at a medium pace and disappeared into the darkness. Police and paramedics were called to the scene. Claude Snelling was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Responding officers searched for the suspect, but he was nowhere to be found.

He had escaped. They canvassed the neighborhood thoroughly. and a few interesting pieces of evidence were found. They found a glass container that apparently had alcohol in it at the property next door. A neighbor, one street over, heard clicking and creaking sounds a few minutes after the murder happened. It was discovered that the sound was most likely from a bicycle

that had been stolen a day or two before from a nearby residence on West Tulare. The missing window screen was found on the camper across the street, and a screwdriver was found wrapped in a clear plastic raincoat. As more and more evidence presented itself, the police were able to cleanly tie this event to the Visalia ransacker. A gun stolen from a previous ransacker crime was found in a ditch. It wasn't the murder weapon, but the timing of the fine was significant.

A flashlight was found that was linked to a previous ransacker break. The most damning evidence came in the form of ballistics. Police determined that the gun used to kill Claude Snelling was the same weapon that had been stolen during a ransacker burglary that had occurred two weeks earlier. They were able to recover some spent casings from this weapon that had been fired from the owner. And they were a match for the casings at the Snelling scene. This physical evidence definitely tied the ransacker to the abduction attempt and the homicide. Since the ransacker was rarely seen, the description that the teenage girl gave to police was very important. She described him as wearing a black ski mask with white zigzag stripes.

She described his voice as a growl, which she said seemed disguised. He appeared to have a medium or slightly heavy build. Now, she couldn't give a good estimate of his weight and wasn't. very sure about his age, but described the killer as most likely being in his 20s or 30s. Height-wise, she thought him to be around 5'9. The search for the ransacker intensified after the murder of Claude Snelling. It was now known that the ransacker was targeting young women, and the police hoped to use that information to help them apprehend him.

On Tuesday, December 9th, the woman living at 1501 West Coahuillie, summoned the police to her residence. Once they arrived on the scene, they were shown shoe prints that had appeared in her yard. The prints were concentrated under the bedroom windows of her teenage daughter, as well as the bathroom that the young woman used. Officers at the scene found the same shoe prints at the residence next door, and after inspecting them, noted that they were similar to other shoe prints that had been found at ransacker crime scenes.

A special patrol was already scheduled for the following day, which involved, six officers on foot staked out at various locations in the city and a police car driving around the areas looking for suspicious persons. Two officers decided to stake out the area where the footprints had been found hoping that the ransacker would return to the scene. One officer was stationed across the street from the house at 1501 West Coahuia and a few hours after getting into position, he noticed a subject walking near the residence in a crouched position. This person was sticking close to the darkness in the shadows of some shrubbery in the area. The subject crept toward the location that the other officer, Officer McGowan, was stationed in,

which was inside the garage next door to 1501 West Korea. At one point, the subject stopped and looked in the garage for a moment, but did not discover the hidden policeman. Then the subject began making his way to the back of the house. Officer McGowan left the garage and began silently following the suspicious man. He observed this man go up to the back gate and begin tampering with the lock. McGowan clicked his flashlight on. The suspect spun around and faced McGowan. Officer McGowan trained the light directly on the subject's eyes, and the man screamed in a high-pitched voice, oh no, oh my God, no.

Officer McGowan shouted out to the man, police officer, hold it right there. The suspect who was apparently wearing a stocking cap or ski mask rolled up on his head, reached up, removed it, and put it in his pocket. As he made this motion, he took off running. He ran a few steps, then made his way over a gate and landed in the yard at 1505 West Korea. McGowan jumped over the fence as well and screamed at the man, hold it, put your hands up. But the suspect didn't stop. He was running in the yard almost in a zigzag or a circular type pattern. And he was still shrieking in this very high pitch, what was described as, you know, feminine voice.

And he was screaming things like, oh my God, please don't hurt me. Oh, my God, no. McGowan fired his service weapon into the ground far away from the suspect to act as a warning shot, but also to alert his partner across the street. But still, this suspect does not stop. He continued to run and then he scrambled over the fence into the yard at 1501 West Coahuia. This is the house where the shoe prints had been found earlier. The whole time McGowan is shouting at this guy.

police officer. Stop. I told you to put your hands up. Stop. I'll shoot. But he's on the other side of the fence at this point from the suspect. But there were gaps between the slats and the fence wide enough that he could see this man easily. And he continued to shine his flashlight on the subject, holding it up and away from his body like he'd been trained to do. Even though they were separated by the fence, they were less than five feet away from each other. The suspect continued pleading in a high-pitched voice with Officer McGowan. The suspect turned to his side so that McGowan could only see his profile and then raised his right hand as if complying with Officer McGowan's request for him to put his hands up. But his left hand began digging around in his jacket.

The suspect said, look, my hands are up. And then he quickly pulled a gun out of his jacket, turned and fired at McGowan. Officer McGowan was knocked to the ground and was lying motionless as his partner arrived. to a system. McGowan's partner saw the suspect run through the gate. Inside the residence at 1501 West Coquia, the homeowner and three other people were surprised to hear a gunshot so close by. The homeowner looked out his window and just a brief moment after a second shot was heard, he saw a man run through his back gate. And this guy exited his house and followed the suspect. He caught sight of him and saw that he was.

was walking, not running, next to the fence. The suspect turned and looked directly at this homeowner. He paused for a minute, then got a running start, and jumped over some hedges that ran alongside of the yard. Meanwhile, McGowan's partner was on the radio requesting backup. As he spoke on the radio, Officer McGowan got to his feet. And it turned out that the suspect shot didn't strike McGowan. It had actually struck his flashlight right on the lens. While some debris from the flashlight glass had cut McGowan near his eye and had left powder marks all over his face, he was relatively unharmed. He was transported to the hospital where he was later treated and released. And this was a golden opportunity to finally catch the Vysalia ransacker. So every available

officer on the Vyselia Police Department was called in. The California Highway Patrol was called and the two layer county sheriff's office was also called in they had nearly 70 officers descend on the area and it was quickly learned that on his way out of the yard the shooter had emptied his pockets of the loot that he had stolen at another ransacking that night he'd stolen a few pounds of pennies which were found tied up in a sock on the ground they also found a few books of the blue chip stamps as well. It was definitely the ransacker that they were dealing with. So these officers were eager to make it right for not only Claude Snelling, but for every

burglary victim over the past two years. So for these guys, the chase was on. The Vesalia Department was besieged with burglary reports for several months, and they wanted to end it and finally catch this guy. While hunting the ransacker, police found a large amount of shoe prints throughout the town. Tracks were found to the west of the shooting on West Coahuia, and from there they headed north, up to Route 198, and then the prince doubled back and started heading east. Tracks were found heading east past the scene of the shooting, just a block north of it, and then they vanished for a bit.

Later on, police determined that due to the pattern of broken branches and indentations, the suspect had hidden in some bushes to avoid police. Tracks were found in an alleyway, still heading in the opposite direction that he had initially taken off running in. Because of this maneuver of doubling back, the VR alluded the perimeter that the police set up and he escaped. Tracking dolls were even used at the scene, but to no avail. Officer McGowan described the shooter as a white male, 25 to 35 years of age, 510, and at least 180 pounds or more. more. He had a round face, short, light blonde hair with no sideburns. He had light skin with no

sign of whiskers or stubble. McGowan described his shoulders as large and round and that he had a larger lower half, so large legs, large hips and thighs, and a large rear end. He was wearing tight pants that looked like blue jeans, a brown and green camouflage. Floss jacket with elastic cuffs, converse tennis shoes, low tops, and dark brown cotton gloves. The cap he was wearing was very thick and it gave the impression of a ski mask rolled up. And then you have the neighbor who saw this guy and actually chased after him. He described the man as having a large frame about 510 and 180 pounds. McGowan described this man as running slowly and also running in a funny manner.

Like he was running with his knees together. After this incident, aside from some possibly related activity a few weeks later, the Visalia Ransacker was never seen or heard from again. What makes this case relevant to our discussion is that the Vysalia Ransacker had several elements in common with the East Area Rapist. since we don't know for sure where the East Area Rapist was before 1976 and we don't know for sure where the Visei Ransacker went after 1975, it makes sense to study these similarities to see if these two offenders might be the same person. The way that both of the offenders navigated the neighborhoods bore some similarities,

with the East Area rapists relying on ditches and canals and the VR seemingly using Evans ditch to traverse the neighborhoods. They both also stole bikes locally and ditched them nearby, But that's something in my research I've seen a few other offenders do, so it may not mean much. Both of the offenders would usually steal personal, keepsake jewelry from their victims, and leave behind the more expensive jewelry. Both offenders also had a fascination with stealing coins. Stealing coins is an odd similarity because these are cumbersome to take, low-value items, and they don't have any personal connection to the victims. Something else worth mentioning is that they both use dishes and household items in strategic places to alert them to noise if someone moved or if someone came home.

The Eastery rapists usually use them on people and the Vesalia Ransacker usually use them on doors. So it's not exactly the same thing, but it's somewhat the same concept. One area where the two offenders diverge is in physical description. McGowan and other witnesses described a stocky character with very pronounced lower-hauer. half and the age range generally fell into the late 20s, which is a little high when compared to the East Area Rapist descriptions. Several witnesses, including McGowan, described a man who ran with an odd gate. So that's tough to reconcile some of those things. But on the other hand, the other similarities between the offenders are kind of hard to ignore as well. During the investigation of the

Vaisalia Ranshecker, police discovered that more than once he had used lotion at the crime scenes to masturbate. In fact, both offenders had brought their own bottles of lotion to crime scenes. They both disguised their voices, but used different techniques to do it. The Visalia Ransacker spoke in a low, masculine growl during the Snelling incident and in a frantic, high-pitched feminine voice in the McGowan incident. The East Area rapist typically spoke in a forced whisper through clenched teeth, often trying to sound as if he had a deeper voice than he actually did. The focus on rummaging and ransacking the entire house is something that both offenders shared. And while it's part of the MO of a common burglar, both the VR and the East Area rapists spent far more time ransacking than a typical

thief. While the MO ties are interesting, hard physical evidence of a tie between the Vysalia ransacker and the East Area rapist remains elusive to researchers and investigators. The police found fingerprints at three dozen Vassalia Ransacker scenes, but none of them matched. So it's assumed that they're all from visitors and friends of the victims. They didn't have any usable DNA evidence of the Ransacker, but there are some shoe impressions that match. They match to a size nine converse. So those were common among the scenes. And that's somewhat similar to an East Area rapist shoe print, but there's not really anything usable there either to tie the offenders together. So basically any similarities that are found are through M.O.

The Vysalia Ransacker still wanted for the murder of Claude Snelling, and if identified, he can still be prosecuted. There is no statute of limitations on murder. Law enforcement maintains an open file on him, and anyone who's any information on the Vysalia Ransacker case is urged to contact the Vysalia Police Department. Debate has raged among investigators in both the East Area Rapists and Vysalia Ransacker. cases. Some are open to the idea that both offenders could be the same based on the very similar M.O. Detective Ken Clark of the Sacramento Sheriff's Department told me that he was 50-50 on whether they

might be the same offender. Other investigators are sure in their minds that the two are indeed one and the same. On the opposite end of the spectrum is investigator Paul Holtz of the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department, who by his own admission is one of the most outspoken critics of these two offenders being the same person. Paul sat down with us and shared his take and opinion on whether the two cases might be the work of one person. The Visalia Ransacker was not very good at avoiding detection. He was seen by multiple individuals during the course of his series. But most notably, you have two extremely reliable witnesses. You've got a 22-year-old anthropoporferferior-old. student and then Officer McGowan.

The 22 year old anthropology student is sitting in his car outside his girlfriend's house when he sees a man walking down the street. The man crosses the street in front of him and then gets down on his, you know, all fours and crawls up to his girlfriend's living room window and starts peeping on her. He gets out, yells at the guy, the guy gets up and runs away and the student gives chase. and ultimately corners the ransacker at a fence. And the ransacker turns around, he doesn't have a mask on, and the anthropology student gets a full head-to-toe visual of the Visalia Ransacker. Officer McGowan, at the end of the series,

after the Snelling Homicide, and there's been multiple burglaries after that homicide, Officer McGowan predicted correctly where the guy was likely to show up next and is sitting in a garage and sees the ransacker across the street at a house up on the fence line and is able to approach the ransacker when the ransacker gets to the gate to the backyard of that house. McGowan lights the ransacker up. Ransacker turns around. He doesn't have his mask on. And McGowan gets a full view of him head to toe before the ransacker pulls the gun. and shoots McGowan, really shoots McGowan's flashlight,

and then the Ransacker is able to get away. Both those two witnesses describe the Ransacker as having this fat, round face, almost juvenileistic looking, very fattish type of neck, hunched, rounded shoulders, fat short fingers, fat hips, fat thighs, fat cast, fat short feet.

The anthropology student said he almost looked mongoloid looking, didn't talk like he was, you know, very, definitely was not somebody who was very coherent in terms of a speaking pattern. And very, almost womanish, girlish in terms of when he screams, he screams like a girl, you know, when he's being confronted by the 22-year-old student before he is able to walk off.

Six months after the last, after McGowan sees the ransacker, he's showing up for the first official attack in Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. That victim is in bed and she sees the East Area rapist in her doorway. He's standing in her doorway. He's got a ski mask on. He's got a T-shirt on. He's got a knife, but he's nude from the waist down. And he's standing there, he's got an erection, but she sees his entire physique. And she describes him as having a very slim, athletic, well-proportioned build.

Attack number three, right around the corner, you have a teenage girl and a mom who see our offender nude from the waist down and see his entire prolonged period of seeing him in the kitchen. And their description is very similar to the first East Area Rapist Victims' description. And I have a serious problem resolving the ransackers' description of fat hip, fat thigh, fat round shoulders, this mongoloid appearance to a well-proportioned, muscular, you know, broad-shouldered, you know, slim to medium build. Some people want to attribute that to weight loss, and I think it is an entirely different physique.

So I at this point have decided there is too much of a difference physically between the Bysalia ransacker and the East Area rapist. And then behaviorally, though there is some overlap, there are significant differences in terms of what these guys were doing. And so at this point, I have moved away completely from Visalia Ransacker. Because where my confidence is, is I know the East Area Rapist is in Sacramento starting June 1976. That is not in dispute. Other investigators are pursuing Visalia, and that gives me at least the safety net, so to speak,

where I feel that I can just not worry about Vysalia because I know other investigators are there to kind of pick that up. In the end, the Vysalia Ransacker case being connected to the case of the East Area rapist is really just one big, fascinating rabbit hole. There's a lot there to make you think that the two offenders could be one and the same, but there's no indisputable physical evidence linking the two cases. All right, Morph, I think this is a good place to wrap up episode five. Make sure you tune in next Saturday to episode six.

That's going to be a halfway point of our season two. And so far, Mike, response to season two has been very positive. You know, listeners have mentioned to us that we've been covering the case thoroughly and respectfully, and we appreciate that. If you'd like to reach out to us or leave a voicemail about this case or about the podcast, you can call 661-77 crime anytime. and leave a voicemail. And we may play it in a future episode. And if you'd like to support the show, all you have to do is go to patreon.com

slash criminology. And if you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter at Criminology Pod. You can find us on Facebook by searching Criminology Podcast or you can join the Facebook discussion group by searching Criminology Podcast discussion and fans. And if you haven't done so already, please take a second to rate and review the show on iTunes.

And I want to give another big thanks to Cat Winners and Keith Comos for their help in the Vyselia Ransacker segment of this episode. Be sure to check out their book, Case Files of the East Area Rapist Golden State Killer available on Amazon. And we want to keep reminding listeners that if you have any information about this case, please call the FBI at 1-800-Call-FBI. We'd like to leave you with a promo for the awesome true crime podcast, Canadian True Crime, hosted by our friend Christy. Have a listen. Hi, this is Christy Lee from the Canadian True Crime podcast. Don't be put off by my weird accent. I am Australian, but I've been living in Canada for many years.

My show takes a deep dive into some of Canada's most well-known cases, like Paul Bernardo and Carla Hamalka and Robert Picton, the pig farmer. but I also tell the complete stories of many cases you probably haven't heard of. You can find me on your favourite podcast app or social media just by searching for Canadian true crime.